


Atmosphere

by cigarettestainedeyes



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-28
Updated: 2013-01-28
Packaged: 2017-11-27 05:44:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/658604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cigarettestainedeyes/pseuds/cigarettestainedeyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles is a college kid searching for information for his thesis paper. Laura Hale is the beautiful neighbor with a troubled brother who happens to work in the restricted section at the library, not to mention the new convenient store near Stiles' school. Derek just really wants to be left alone, at least he think he does. [College AU]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Atmosphere

Stiles notices something new on the way to the bus stop during a Tuesday afternoon. There's a small mini mart that's just opened up, the sandwich board sign propped in front of it advertising cigarettes, soda, and snacks. It's freezing outside, the two pairs of socks and converse shoes not doing much against the cold. His pea coat had been a bad decision as well. Even though it's fresh from the cleaners and his best friend Lydia insists that the particular shade of gray brings out the honey in his eyes, he's shaking. His mittens that convert into fingerless gloves - also Lydia's suggestion because the cream and brown colors offset the gray quite nicely thank you very much - offer minimal relief to jack frost biting and nipping at them every time he slides his fingers out to adjust the hold he has on his cigarette.

  
The mini mart is brightly lit, jackhammered in between an office building and an Indian restaurant that wafts out smells that make Stiles’ stomach grumble tiredly. He realizes he hasn’t eaten today. Stiles can see someone looking over the shelves inside the shop, perhaps for a late afternoon snack. Stiles has three more blocks to go with twenty minutes till the bus arrives but his cheeks sting and his fingers scream from where they pinch the cigarette. He snuffs it out on the bottom of his shoe before he ducks inside.

The air is surprisingly clear of the smell of rice and chili pepper when he gets inside. It’s four aisles, the walls littered with vending machines, coolers and snack racks on one side, the checkout area and newspaper stacks on the other. He can’t see anyone in the booth but knows the employee shouldn’t be too far, especially because a little bell went off when Stiles walked in.

He peers at the rows of snack cakes and crackers, milling about to check and see if they have any Brisk, not shocked at all when he sees that they don’t carry it. Most independent stores didn’t. Then he sees it in the corner. There’s coffee. It’s a decent-sized silver brewer. There’s paper cups with pictures of coffee to the right, one large container of creamer, a restaurant-style glass sugar shaker and a small cup of straws, lids poking out behind the cups.

He brightens instantly. It’s heaven. He’s usually upset when he doesn’t find variety for his coffee, some caramel flavoring, maybe some whipped topping, but at the moment he knows what he needs - coffee, just coffee. Once the cup is nearly full he lets go of the release handle too fast and it splashes over his fingers. It’s so shocking that he jolts and makes a little sound of annoyance. He doesn’t look around to see if anyone noticed and fruitlessly searches for napkins to clean up the spilled coffee. There are none. After a momentary second of panic in which he mentally decides how embarrassing it would be to confess to the employee versus ignoring it he quickly continues what he was doing and takes hold of the creamer. It dusts down into the brew and he drowns that in sugar. After mixing it he takes a hesitant sip.

His tongue burns instantly but the aftertaste has that bitter kick of coffee grounds with edges of sweetness surrounding it. Perfection. He gives one last look at the mess and chooses to do the wrong thing by ignoring it.

He doesn't have much money but he sure as hell doesn't give a fuck. He doesn't care that it could cost three bucks. He needs it. He's going straight to work from a long day at school and knows that he won’t last halfway into his shift if he doesn’t get a kick.

He pushes a cover on his cup and turns, giving the shelves one last, long look. His stomach is telling him to buy something sweet and unhealthy but his wallet is reminding him that he’s broke so instead of caving he walks directly to the counter and spots an employee, or rather the the back of someone’s head. The man turns at the sound of Stiles walking and Stiles nearly stops dead in his tracks, but catches himself and keeps moving.

“Cold?” The man says.

He’s sexy. Ridiculously sexy. Like, “this guy should be in a magazine” kind of sexy. He’s wearing a fitted black t-shirt with a name tag pinned to it that’s a little lopsided. He’s giving Stiles this emotionless expression but his voice is polite, fake-interested like most salespeople were.

“Uh, yeah. Freezing.” Stiles responds and puts the coffee on the counter, reaching into his laptop bag to find his wallet.

“This it for ya?” The man asks. Derek, his nametag reads.

“Yeah.”

“Dollar and six cents.” Derek tells him, pushing a button on the generic cash register.

“Really?” Stiles is surprised. The cup is pretty big, the kind that at least merits a higher price, especially in the city.

“Yup.” Derek is apparently a well-rounded conversationalist.

“Then add a pack of Newports, please.” Stiles decides. He’d been running low anyhow.

“Got ID?” Derek says before pushing another button.

“No, I thought my charm would be enough.” Stiles jokes and Derek blinks, giving Stiles a look as if he’s seeing him for the first time and deciding that he doesn’t like what in front of him. “Um, here.” Stiles slides it across the counter without another remark.

Derek glances at it and Stiles swears he sees the edge of his mouth tilt up. “Nice name, which way do you pronounce it?”

Stiles snags it back and slides it into his waller. “Ignore that, people call me Stiles.”

“People call you Stiles Stilinski?” The polite tone is replaced with some slight condescension.

“Points for pronouncing the last name correctly.” Stiles takes the coffee and jabs his finger at Derek with his index finger when he says this.

“That’ll be seven dollars, forty-two cents.” Derek states instead of commenting.

Stiles gives him a crumpled ten and drums his fingers on the counter while Derek grabs the cigarettes and makes change.

“Aren’t you cold?” Stiles asks. “The door’s, like, right there.” He looks over at it. “Don’t you get cold?”

Derek eyes him while he hands back his change before shrugging. “We’ve got good heat. It’s not a big spot, so it gets warm quickly.”

“Makes sense, makes sense.” Stiles nods and realizes he’s having ridiculously pathetic small talk. “Well, thanks for the coffee.”

“You made it.” Derek blurts out.

“Good point. Okay.” Stiles grabs his cigarettes and vacates before he makes a bigger ass of himself.

It’s still freezing outside but the coffee is keeping his fingers warm and he finds himself not really minding it as he makes it to the bus stop just as the 854C is pulling to a stop.

Stiles lives ten minutes away by bus. His apartment is tiny and the door jams every single time he tries to get in. It gets annoying when he’s struggling with grocery bags or a large armful of books with coffee teetering on the edge but somehow he’s managed to avoid making a complete fool of himself in front of the few neighbors he’s actually met. This time all he’s holding is coffee so it’s not too hard to get inside but he still feels ridiculous leaning on the door and pushing with his entire body.

A gray tom cat mewls when he walks in and Stiles rubs his hands together once he sheds his gloves. The cat comes over to him and curls his body around one of Stiles’ feet. He steps over the cat and bends down to pull off his shoes. Once his jacket is tossed over one of the two chairs that sit at his rickety kitchen table he refills the food and water dish that are near the small island in the kitchenette part of the room. When he sets the bowls down he scratches in between the cat’s ears affectionately.

“Hi, Cat. How was your day?” Cat ignores him and heads for the food. “Rude!” Stiles calls after him teasingly.

Stiles spends the rest of the evening attempting to concentrate on his classwork with only three breaks for a quick round of Halo, the paper cup of coffee abandoned and sitting near the microwave. It’s empty, he just hasn’t tossed it out yet. He’s gnawing on the cap of a highlighter and ignoring his Interpersonal Communications assignment while a twelve-year old slews curses at him through his headset which he has removed. He’s leaning back on his chair just short of making it fall and eyeing the cup with an intent look.  


He’d been rather talkative with the cashier. Even though Stiles knew his mouth ran faster than most people could understand, he’d floundered his first two weeks of college, choosing to sit in the middle or back of the room, to shrink away from raising his hand, to try and blend. He wasn’t ashamed or anything, no, but he’d always been “the smart kinda funny boyish kid” and he wanted to change that. College was a totally different setting with an entirely new structure. Stiles had uprooted himself from the suburbs and moved into the city by the skin of his ass. He still didn’t have a car but trusted his old bicycle from three summers ago to get him around well enough. In the middle of winter he stayed indoors and used the bus to get around, usually spending his nights alone instead of going out. He still hadn’t made any close friends aside from his neighbor in 304, a quiet but beautiful girl who complained about his taste in music. She was around his age and they teased each other a lot, both being in the whole “new phase of your life” scenario. Stiles didn’t know how they melded so well together, but there was something about the glint in her eye, the way she stood with all her weight resting on one leg, the flirtatious flip her hair waved into that made him want to have long, haphazardly-curated conversations with her.

All of this was getting away from the point. The point was, aside from the girl in the room next to his, he hadn’t made a single friend or even attempt to. Instead, he spent a lot of time on the phone with his father and kept in constant communication with his friends from his hometown further south. For the first time, a teacher didn’t cock an eyebrow and mention how they’d heard about him from another faculty member, there were no designated lunch tables for the nerds and the cool kids because everyone was too busy and tired to care.

The library was always packed and the popular smoking areas held many long-winded conversations about horrible courses, feelings of pride in ones work, and the pretentious smell of Starbucks coffee and plaid. It was all really fantastic and Stiles loved every second of it. Still, he was quiet and content while appearing to be calm and perhaps even aloof. It was almost relaxing to not have anything expected from him, at least not yet.

After double-checking on the student website for the last day to switch courses - he didn’t _really_ need to be taking Physics this term, not with Electric Field Management only being offered once in the next four terms. He needed it to move up to other courses - he switched over to browsing through a few of the social networking sites he loved and sorting through his music. He’d been making a lot of changes with his life; a whole new apartment, the ability to buy alcohol publically, a complete change in how he dressed and kept his hair, and a new music collection. He deleted his High School Musical compilation and the soundtrack from Get Him To The Greek. Lydia, his gorgeous best friend, had told him that humans evolve every seven years and now that Stiles was finally twenty-one he needed to celebrate by actually going through the motions of trying to better and improve his life. Sometimes she scared Stiles with how smart she was.

The next morning he woke up three hours before he had to leave for school to make a pot of coffee, and enjoy a quick round of hookah and perhaps even indulge in a joint or two. He always got the morning paper delivered to his mailbox and when he ran down in his boxers and a tshirt he didn’t expect the beautiful girl to be there. She went to school too and Stiles always heard her shower running early in the morning. Her front door usually slammed shut by eight. It was half past nine and she was still around. He froze but she noticed him before he could bolt.

“305.” She grinned. “So you’re into Ironman?”

Stiles knew which boxers he was wearing, thank you very much. “You’re usually gone by now.”

“My brother stopped by.” She explained. “He needed to talk so I cleared my morning for him.”

“Ah.” It was uncomfortably personal. This is why he didn’t like talking to people.

The hallway of mailboxes was right in front of the main entrance. Stiles felt his heart stutter when he saw the cashier from the shop run up the steps and knock on the glass door. The girl turned and moved to let him inside.

“Derek!” She was smiling, Stiles could hear it in her voice.

“Laura.” He nodded, shoving his hands into the pockets of a fitted leather jacket, one that didn’t really scream “mini mart.” Derek noticed Stiles a moment later and had a brief look of recognition before Stiles backed up the steps and turned to bolt.

Christ, he was still in his boxers. He was never leaving his room without pants again. He then realized he had just run off and Laura and Derek were going to be coming up to the room right next to his and were probably going to wonder why he was standing in the hallway, frozen in shock at what was happening to him. Things like this didn’t just happen. You see attractive people all the time at the mall or when you’re on the bus, they leave shortly or you pass them and it’s over and you move on, they don’t end up being your neighbor’s brother.

“Stiles!” Laura’s voice is distinct.

He jumps and sees her at the top of the stairs. He still hasn’t opened his door.

“304.” He salutes jokingly.

“Oh, shush, come meet my brother.” She insists, her arm hooked around Derek’s who is looking at Stiles with a vacant expression.

“Um, maybe once I have pants.” He says and fumbles for the knob. Once he’s safely inside he takes a moment to breathe and remember that he has a schedule to keep to and he’d been meaning to check out his notes for his coding class before the chapter review today and he didn’t have time to socialize for long.

With that in mind he changes into a pair of dark jeans and a decently-fitting dark blue shirt, running his fingers through his hair enough to mess it up in that “elegantly disheveled” look he liked to aim for. He double-checks to make sure his keys, cigarettes, and cell phone are on him before he leaves his apartment and knocks next door.

Laura answers and yanks him inside. “Ah! Stiles, okay, I’m so glad you’re here.” She starts, eyes blazing and fingers pointing. “Derek, Stiles is the one that’s double-majoring in science and english.” She says, pulling Stiles towards Derek.

“Folklore.” Stiles clarifies.

“Fairies?” Derek asks a complete question with one word and a snooty look.

Stiles smirks. “Ancient magic and sorcery, actually. I’m not really majoring in science either, it’s more geared towards the biological and engineering aspects of things.”

“Well, aren’t we ambitious.” He really had that whole _complete asshole_ thing down to the last slight laugh at the end of his sentence.

Stiles smiles nervously and briefly wonders what Laura is up to. “Stiles, Derek is actually a librarian at the Walker Library in Uptown.” She catches his glance and all at once he grins widely.

“The library featuring the largest collection of information regarding Merlin in the United States?” He waves his hands around with excitement.

Derek’s eyes widen but he doesn’t look impressed. It’s almost like he’s bored. Laura’s nodding. “I just had to have you too meet, I know I’ve heard you mention needing some books they keep in the restricted area and Derek has access to them.”

Stiles glances away from Laura and at Derek, trying not to be intimidated by full eye contact. “You can get me the books?”

“Maybe.” Derek grunts and looks away.

“Laure, holy shit!”

Stiles was always an over-achiever and had begun thinking about what to do his final thesis on in order to get his degree months before he’d even started going to school. He’d always been attached to the myth about Merlin and Arthur and upon researching, found that there were sources revealing long-forgotten stories of the pair that were kept closed off to the public for reasons that were unclear to Stiles. Derek could get him the books.

“I didn’t say yes.” Derek pointed out, rather abruptly. Stiles would've almost considered it rude.

“Dude, I will give you anything you want.” Stiles said in a complete serious voice, and didn’t quite like the slightly sarcastic snort he received in return.

“I can tell you right now that you have nothing I want. What’s a college kid going to give me?”

Laura gaped. “Derek Hale, I called into work to talk to you about you-know-what so don’t think for a minute you’re getting out of this.”

“If Peter sees him in the restricted area - ”

“He’s not because you’re going to prevent that from happening and help my good friend 305 here on his important paper or whatever it is.”

“I know what it is, Laura, I went to college as well, I’m just not going to risk my job for some stupid kid.”

“Hey!” Stiles cut in.

“Derek, knock it off or I’m rescinding my offer from earlier.” She looked at him with an expression that clearly said _deal with it_. Derek glared at her and pushed his way past the pair to the door.

“Later in the week then, I’m busy today.”

“Nice to meet you too!” Stiles called after him before the sharp snap of the door being shut silenced him for a beat. “Well, he’s just lovely, Laura. Really can’t see why you didn’t introduce me earlier.”

“You’re welcome.” She retorted and glanced at the door one last time before setting her attention on Stiles. “He’s not all that bad, just going through some stuff right now I can’t really talk about. Give him a couple days, he’ll come around.”

“If you say so.” Stiles gives her a smile just to get her to stop talking about it.

He left without another word and once he was back behind his own door he situated himself on the couch and propped open his laptop, searching on facebook for Laura, then going on to see if he could find Derek. She had an account, he didn’t. The only thing Stiles knew was where he worked, and it didn’t seem like Derek liked to do much else at work besides work. He wasn’t one of the those talkative, enjoyable workers that at least pretended to care about what customers needed. He tried to distract himself by looking at his grades and some new announcements on his school’s website about upcoming art shows and the tour group that was coming through for new students but nothing worked. He couldn’t stop thinking of ways to approach Derek.

There was no way in this lifetime that Derek was going to let him see the books he needed. Absolutely no way.


End file.
